In taking on costume design for 'The Emperor Jones', I have decided (along with Scott, who is working on set),
to go with World War 2 symbolism, especially that of the Nazi regime.
We want to play with idea of power, and how it can ruin you, as it does to Jones throughout the play.
We want to encapsulate ideas of power not only from WW2 (Hitler being the obvious choice there), but also Roman imagery.
With my costumes for our project, I want everything to first and foremost complement the set (see Scott's page for more information). Therefore for starters I wanted all the costumes to have historical context and be presented completely in black and white, the former relating to our ideas of power in WW2 (and the use of historically known Roman pillars) and the latter, matching the colour palette of white and black, or light and dark.
My idea focuses mainly on the outfits for Jones. Notice I said outfits; I want Jones to have 7 different costumes which change depending on his status in the play, which lowers with every vision he has and he slowly becomes more insane.
I want the costumes to be as follows:
BEGINNING
- Hitler-esque Nazi uniform
- Political Nazi uniform
- German solider
- German civilian
- Jewish rebel
- Tattered Jewish outfit (rounded up)
- Striped pajamas (the only outfit to be in blue, to match some of the colours on set)
Each of these represents various statuses during the war and represent Jones status during the play, he slowly becomes the thing he tries to control. He loses power.
All of the costumes will essentially blend into one another, that is, for example, one costume will use the boots of another, so quick changes can happen, within seconds.
For Smithers, I wanted the simple of satirical representation of him in British uniform. Before/during WW2 the Germans, had power, after, the British took control. Which is exactly what happens between Jones and Smithers in the play.
All in all, as long as we can communicate relationships of power and status, that is what we want to achieve.
In taking on costume design for 'The Emperor Jones', I have decided (along with Scott, who is working on set),
to go with World War 2 symbolism, especially that of the Nazi regime.
We want to play with idea of power, and how it can ruin you, as it does to Jones throughout the play.
We want to encapsulate ideas of power not only from WW2 (Hitler being the obvious choice there), but also Roman imagery.
With my costumes for our project, I want everything to first and foremost complement the set (see Scott's page for more information). Therefore for starters I wanted all the costumes to have historical context and be presented completely in black and white, the former relating to our ideas of power in WW2 (and the use of historically known Roman pillars) and the latter, matching the colour palette of white and black, or light and dark.
My idea focuses mainly on the outfits for Jones. Notice I said outfits; I want Jones to have 7 different costumes which change depending on his status in the play, which lowers with every vision he has and he slowly becomes more insane.
I want the costumes to be as follows:
BEGINNING
- Hitler-esque Nazi uniform
- Political Nazi uniform
- German solider
- German civilian
- Jewish rebel
- Tattered Jewish outfit (rounded up)
- Striped pajamas (the only outfit to be in blue, to match some of the colours on set)
Each of these represents various statuses during the war and represent Jones status during the play, he slowly becomes the thing he tries to control. He loses power.
All of the costumes will essentially blend into one another, that is, for example, one costume will use the boots of another, so quick changes can happen, within seconds.
For Smithers, I wanted the simple of satirical representation of him in British uniform. Before/during WW2 the Germans, had power, after, the British took control. Which is exactly what happens between Jones and Smithers in the play.
All in all, as long as we can communicate relationships of power and status, that is what we want to achieve.